January 2019 - 8

DRAPE NET
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
tours to New Zealand in February and
March 2018. That led to Michigan State
University (MSU) Extension educators
Phil Schwallier and Amy Irish-Brown
testing the product this summer, sharing
their results at the recent Great Lakes
Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO
in Grand Rapids.
" There are other types of netting, this
just happens to be the company that
we worked with because some of the
Drape Net demonstrations were featured during the International Fruit Tree Association tours
to New Zealand in February and March 2018.
growers in our area were working with
it, " Irish-Brown said.
The MSU trial of Drape Net took place
during the summer of 2018 on apple
orchards around Belding, Michigan, as
well as at the Trevor Nichols Research
Station near Fennville.
Extension set insect traps and did
visual scanning for pests.
" Spray materials can get through it,
but most of the insects we looked at
couldn't get through it, " Irish-Brown
said. Two exceptions are aphids and
wooly aphids, which were small enough
to get through the netting.
Data loggers also recorded humidity
and temperatures in trials of no-net,
white-net and black-net apple trees.
Temperatures were slightly higher under
white netting than with no netting at
all, she said, while humidity was highest
under black netting. There were slight
reductions in reddening, and " fruit
maturity was delayed slightly inside the
netting, " she said.
Dormant treatment tackles
troublesome weeds
ackling your toughest
weeds during the
dormant season
enables you to start the
season with a clean orchard
floor and can increase your
farm's profitability.
Fifth-generation farmer
Craig McDowell of Chesnee,
South Carolina, was already
a believer in a dormant
weed control system before
Pindar®
GT herbicide
entered the market.
And while other
products were controlling
many weeds and grasses in
his orchards, several of his
most troublesome weeds
remained uncontrolled.
" Competing treatments
were working but weren't
working for certain
weeds, " he says. " I haven't
seen any weaknesses with
Pindar GT in our highpressure
weed situations.
It killed the weeds that
the competitor didn't,
especially marestail. "
A herbicide applied
during the orchard's
dormant period can catch
late-germinating weeds
and winter annuals that
you otherwise may miss.
Treating weeds when
small also minimizes
competition with your
trees next spring.
Postharvest rainfall helps
the herbicide better reach
the seed germination
zone and cooler soil
temperatures may improve
residual control.
McDowell put Pindar GT
to the test in his peach
orchards in 2017 and 2018.
T
He applied the herbicide
in late September or early
October in high weedpressure
environments.
" Johnsongrass,
pigweed, marestail - you
name it and we've got it.
Pindar GT really takes
care of our problem
weeds like marestail, "
he says. " I'm pleased
with the performance of
Pindar on hard-to-control
weed species. "
Application timing
depends on weather
conditions, but McDowell
generally aims for
September or October.
" We hit weeds twice -
first in the fall with a tank
mix of Pindar GT and
paraquat and then in early
spring before bud swell
with paraquat mixed with
another herbicide. Those
are our only weed control
treatments applied all
year, " he says.
" We rely on the residual
Pindar GT provides, "
McDowell adds. " The
fall tank mix holds. Our
orchard rows are still clean
when the time comes for
our next spray. "
McDowell, who
produces strawberries and
peaches, has been farming
since he was " big enough
to crawl onto a tractor. "
" It's all I've ever done, "
he says. " I started farming
strawberries with my dad
and he farmed with his dad
before that. My granddad
always had peaches.
Farming is bred into you. "
His wife, Sheila, is also
Casting nets
At Chazy Orchards, the growers first
used the netting on 50 acres, and since
have expanded their use to put 150 acres
under netting.
Giroux-Taylor said putting Drape Net
on in the spring, requires a five-person
crew: " One tractor driver, two people
guiding the net down and two people
putting zip ties in every 20 to 30 feet. "
She added it could be taken off with a
smaller, three-person crew.
" You could have them go through
before and cut the zip ties on the row
you are about to take off, and then come
back to help guide the netting off of the
tree, " she said.
Starting out, Drape Net can be applied
at a pace of 5 acres per day - the pace
goes twice as quickly in following years
after the 100-meter bolts of netting are cut
and sewn to the right length for each row.
Drape Net can last for at least 10 years,
Giroux-Taylor said. The company sells
products for storing the rolls outside.
South Carolina fruit producer Craig McDowell believes in
starting the year off with a clean orchard floor.
Troubleshooting
One grower attending the presentation
in Grand Rapids told a story about how
10 minutes of 70 mph winds had nearly
toppled a couple rows of trees he had
netted.
" In regards to wind, Drape Net will
not act like a sail but if the trellis was
McDowell Farms is a family operation providing peaches and
strawberries to South Carolina consumers.
active in the family farming
business. She assists with
production and handles the
farm's roadside stand.
" She was in nursing for
more than 20 years and when
we expanded our operation
with a roadside stand, we
expanded her role on the
farm, " McDowell says.
Today, McDowell Farms
also includes eldest son
Clayton, 18. " I enjoy having
my son work with me, "
McDowell says. Another
son, Carson, 16, is still in
high school and hasn't
decided whether he'll join
the family business. " I've
left it up to him. "
going to blow over without Drape Net
on, putting Drape Net on will not help, "
Giroux-Taylor said. " You want to be
confident in your trellis system in high
winds before you put Drape Net on. "
Most growers zip-tie the bottom of the
netting to the trees' bottom branches,
she said.
" We don't suggest securing Drape
Net to the ground, " Giroux-Taylor said.
" If you would like to use Drape Net
as exclusion netting you can bring the
netting all the way underneath the tree
and zip tie it to itself on the other side. "
Irish-Brown said that if the net isn't
TM ®Trademark of Dow AgroSciences, DuPont or Pioneer, and their affiliated companies or
their respective owners. Pindar is not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state
pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state.
Always read and follow label directions.
ADVERTISEMENT | © 2019 Dow AgroSciences LLC
8 | FruitGrowersNews.com
cinched at the bottom, " A moth could
be clever and try to get up in there, " or
other insects like apple maggot could
crawl up from the ground.
But an uncinched net is also helpful to
gain entry to the trees.
" You can work in there, but it can be a
tight fit, depending on the planting, " she
said. FGN

http://www.FruitGrowersNews.com

January 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2019